1. Technical Field
This invention relates to temporary covers for protecting floors and countertops from damage by falling or dragging objects, or by chemicals or paints, while work is being done on the interior of a building. Specifically, the invention relates to a multi-layered protective cover that can easily be rolled for transport and then easily unrolled for use.
2. Background Art
During the last stages of house or building construction, and after floor and countertop materials have already been installed, finish work such as painting, caulking, finish carpentry, and appliance and lighting fixture installation is done. This work often causes significant damage to plastic laminates, linoleum, hardwood, ceramic tiles, and carpets before the building is sold or moved into. Heavy tools, caulking and paint buckets, and appliance edges are particularly damaging. Sometimes additional damage is done because these objects, or the people using them, rest on or step on particulate such as dirt or gravel or on small objects such as nails or staples that lie on the floor or countertop. Often the particulate or small object gets dragged along or pushed into the floor or countertop, causing scratches and gouges.
Traditionally, the only protection, if any, given to floors and countertops during the final stages of construction has been a thin fabric drop cloth or a thin plastic sheet such as the 0.002 inch thick self-adhesive plastic sheet called Carpet Mask.TM. by Poly-Tak.TM.. These help protect against paint or caulking splatters and soil on workers' feet, but do not protect against gouges, scrapes, abrasion, or other damage and breakage due to impact of objects or feet.
Fabric throw rugs or moving-van style blankets could be used but these adsorb liquids, snag and catch on appliances, and do not protect against sharp and forceful impact. Also, these covers are bulky and heavy to transport and store.
Many floor covers and mats have been made in the past, but they are either too thick and bulky, too rigid, or not protective enough. Juneau (U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,716) discloses an outdoor floor covering having a ribbed top sheet of galvanized rubber at least 3 mm in thickness, and a bottom sheet of closed-cell material that is three or more times the thickness of the top sheet. Juneau teaches that both top and bottom sheets are easily deformable so that ice on top of the cover will break up when the cover is stepped on. Ellingson, Jr. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,020) teaches a plastic mat made of interconnected sections with openings between the sections through which dirt may fall to the floor. Holgerson (U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,895) discloses floor covering blocks with a rigid backing, middle cushion member, and a top tufted member. Turner (U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,245) discloses blocks for a roof walkway panel, having a foam bottom pad and a concrete upper section.
Many covers for tables or countertops have been made, but they are either too rigid, too permanent, or not protective enough for temporary use during finish work. Countertop designs include Burnes (U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,508), Lieber (U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,074), Oakes (U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,861), and Stanitz (U.S. Pat. No. 2,492,541). Retrofit covers for countertops or tables have been designed, such as the picnic table cover taught by Roth (U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,001) and the desk attachment taught by Glickman (U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,528), which both are rigid and held on by adhesives. Fabric table covers also have been designed, such as the elastic fabric cover taught by Bendelari (U.S. Pat. No. 1,926,429).
Voltek of Lawrence, Mass., makes an extrusion-coated composite material called Volextra.TM. for uses such as automobile interiors. Volextra.TM. includes a fine-celled, irradiation cross-linked polyolefin foam. The foam thickness to coating thickness ratio appears to typically be in the range of 4 to 35. It is suspected that the heat involved in the extrusion-coating process makes lower foam to film thickness ratios difficult to obtain.
What is still needed is a temporary cover for floors or countertops that provides a rugged, tough, liquid-proof, protective barrier but that also can easily be transported as a compact, lightweight package and can easily and quickly be installed for use.